Home’s Porn Past Scares Off Buyer: Would You Run, Too?

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What if you found the perfect home, but then you discover it had been the backdrop of countless porn movies? Would you still buy it?

That was the question facing Linda Fein—who, according to the Arizona Republic, had fallen in love with a 4,172-square-foot, Mid-Century Modern house in Paradise Valley, AZ, listed at $2,195,000. Situated on 1.3 acres, the home has four bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a custom bar and gorgeous views of the mountains. Fein thought it was ideal—until she caught wind of the intel that the sellers, Kevin and Sandra Otterson, were in the “entertainment industry.”

What type of entertainment, exactly?

With more digging, Fein found that the Ottersons ran the website Wifey’s World—a porn site filled with footage clearly showing that this married couple used their home as the backdrop for all kinds of X-rated activities.

This home was used to shoot some racy videos.

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Fein freaked out—and lost all interest in the property. According to the Republic, she was in the process of making a $1.8 million offer on the home. But according to the home’s listing agent, Scott Jarson, Fein “did not make an offer.” In the Republic, she explained why.

“I just can’t make Thanksgiving dinner on counters where a porn star has been lounging around,” Fein said.

Things have gotten hot in this kitchen.

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Why a home’s past can kill a sale

We get where Fein is coming from. No matter how amazing a home is, its history matters—which is why home sellers are required by law to disclose certain info about a property’s past that might affect its value. While property disclosures vary based on where you live (here’s a rundown of required property disclosures by state), some of the biggies that often must be fessed up include whether a home is where someone died or was murdered, or whether a registered sex offender lives nearby.

But is “used to film porn” a required disclosure, too?

In Arizona at least, the answer is no.

“We verified that this isn’t a disclosure issue,” says Jarson.

In fact, had Fein gotten so far as to sign a purchase agreement, she wouldn’t have been able to back out of this deal at all.

“The sellers would have been able to force the buyers to move forward or sue them, because this falls into the ‘I don’t like it so I’m backing out’ category, which isn’t a valid legal reason to cancel the contract,” says real estate agent Cedric Stewart.

Nonetheless, Stewart admits that finding out a home is itself a porn star “is probably a home sale killer for the majority of the population.”

So what’s a home seller sitting on a big secret supposed to do?

Should home sellers tell all anyway?

Some real estate agents say that even if home sellers aren’t required by law to disclose something potentially dicey, they should anyway.

“Although the sellers were not legally required to disclose what the home was used for, I would have advised this information to be disclosed if a buyer appeared to be seriously interested so they were aware of the situation upfront, versus discovering it later,” says Florida-based real estate agent Cara Ameer.

After all, she points out, in the age of Google, it’s not hard to find out this kind of thing. And while it’s a risk for sellers to reveal unsavory info about their home, the risks balloon even larger once an offer is in place.

“There is too much on the line once a property goes under contract,” Ameer explains.

Even if the buyers’ change of heart isn’t legally valid and they lose their earnest money deposit, there are still negative repercussions to the seller.

“If a buyer wants to back out, it can often have a domino effect on many things, like the seller’s plans to purchase another property as well as the lost marketing time that cannot be recouped, plus a perceived stigma with a property coming back on the market after going under contract,” Ameer says. “Buyers often wonder why that happened and love to speculate. Was it from the inspection or some fatal flaw that makes the home difficult to sell?”

Comfy. Maybe a little too comfy?

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“I advise that my sellers disclose everything,” agrees Kathryn Bishop, a real estate agent in Los Angeles. Bishop, in fact, can speak from personal experience.

“I purchased a home to remodel that had been a porn site,” Bishop says. “You could tell it had been one by the red-flocked wallpaper and mirrors on the ceilings.”

While this gave her pause, she got over it due to the home’s stellar location in the Hollywood Hills. And besides, it had a great layout and was a bargain to boot.

“The price was right,” she says. “Yes, I was turned off by its history, but it had great bones. So I remodeled every square inch of the disgusting house and lived there for 10 years.”

And once she was ready to sell, did she mention its porno past? “I did tell the new owners,” she says, “because I made the home beautiful. So by that point, that history became a ‘fun’ fact about the home.”

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